autotext app
 

hey everyone. I've pre ordered the n900 and I'm totally psyched about it :D it seems like an awesome device with an awesome open source os :)

I have a question. I'm a BlackBerry user since 4 years ago and I love the phone os. It's old, aged, and can't do anything. But you gotta love the push system that they've implemented. anyways. On the BlackBerry os there is a feature called "autotext."

Autotext is an app built in that regonizes predetermined/defined sequences and replaces with another as you type. For example. I have madrid to Madrid. Usa to USA. And "putsig" to put my contact information. And about 800 other things such as. xd to xD for a smiley. So on and so on. Is there any app or feature similar to this in the maemo OS?

I'm so excited. And this would def make my day to hear that there is something similar to it in maemo :)

Thanks :)

Kent.

Re: autotext app
 

I've not seen an app like this in Maemo 4, but it sounds like a good idea. Maybe one way to get this to work system wide would be to hook into the word prediction feature.

Re: autotext app
 

Currently, there is text completion (e.g., if you type "wh" it asks if you want "what," etc.) and auto-capitalization. I have not seen anything that does what you're describing (which is cool).

Tim

Re: autotext app
 

That's what I'm talking about! Since the OS is open source. Would it be hard to program some type of app of the sort?

Re: autotext app
 

Maybe not. You should add your idea to the Maemo Brainstorm! :)

Tim

Re: autotext app
 

why I do feel like the title should be "Request: Auto-replace SMS function/app".
What I understand you want is a program (Or more of addon) to autoreplace a text with ones you feed it with.

Seriously, I also like this idea (practical).
A text like:
"3d imgs r exptd jmp frm movs theatrs into livin rooms by nxt yr." - I know most people won't write like that with QWERT
Into something more professional
"3-D images are expected jump from movie theaters into living rooms by next year."- some CNN copy/paste

Re: autotext app
 

It is really practical. I type w+e+l (can't do it now cuz I'm on my BlackBerry. Otherwise it'll change it to: we'll) haha. And stuff like "putmail" and it puts my email address. It's very practical.

I'm not home. I'm on my cell phone. When I get home I'll add it to the brainstorming page. :)

I would really love this addon. It's really practical and totally saves me a ton of time on typing common words. :)

Re: autotext app
 

OK it's official, I have NO idea how to add it to the sandbox :( Can anyone do it? I can't :(... I'm lame. Lol.

Re: autotext app
 

Just curious... Did you watch the tutorial video? (A link is on the right side bar.) Also, you need a maemo.org account (right now, it's different that a Talk account).

Let me know if you need further help.

Tim

Re: autotext app
 

heh
its a macro replacer
we could have lots of interesting uses with that tbh

it would need configuration dialogs and storage

where would the replacements be expected, only in text messaging or other places?
would you want the same ones in each app?
"xx" in text messaging to "love you, (k)" would be nice for text messaging
but not practical in a word processor lol

other considerations, do you recursively expand the contents, do you automatically expand over 1/2/3 message boundaries?

sounds nice and doesn't sound like it would be too hard to code in somewhere when we find the source :)

Re: autotext app
 

I can understand how useful it is. I use it in Pidgin (a multi-protocal chat IM client). Especially since you can turn something like ilu into "I love you". Which is extremely handy on the n800 when talking with your girlfriend lol.

The problem is, it shouldn't be difficult to program it for any single app to implement for its own purpose. But what about on a multi-app basis as in it's part of the operating system to check text in any app? Are their APIs or methods that would allow that (anyone know who is familar with the inwards of the operating system?).

Re: autotext app
 

I wanted something very similar and posted a request in this thread, "Will someone code an Always-on-Top Macro-Typing Applet like TypeItIn?"

In Diablo, I use the suggestion offered in that thread by Benson: combine xautomation's xte function with Personal Menu. I detailed the solution in this thread, "How To: Making your own Form Filler or Macro Typer".

Re: autotext app
 

it's a pretty good if it's a plugin that could be used in any txt input field ( edit, e-mail, sms, .... )

Re: autotext app
 

Really? Well, it would have to be present in all of the OS, I imagine. For example, my name isn't automatically capitalized on my Blackberry, so kent --> Kent.

Also, "putnum" would put my phone number. or "wel" --> "we'll", "il" --> "I'll". I can type incredibly fast thanks to these replacements, because i have tied words like "th" to "the" which saves me an e, or ddt to didn't, or when I have to type in Spanish or French, I have bano to baño, or putting two Os gives me an O with an accent. It saves A LOT of time. Some more practical usages to speed up the OS would be 'bday' to birthday, cmd --> command, I also programmed "fbalbum" to the main album on my facebook page to send people links directly. I also programmed the letters that correspond to numbers to put my phone number, saves pressing the function key hr to hour, hrs to hours, mo to month, and mos to months. I've always used "putsig" to put "Yours truly, Kent" blah blah blah. There are infinite uses for this and I would LOVE for there to be an app tied into the OS to do this. It uses very little ram (on a BB at least) and helps out A LOT in every day tasks.

"other considerations, do you recursively expand the contents, do you automatically expand over 1/2/3 message boundaries?"

I didn't really understand that. I'm not much a programmer. Lol.

Re: autotext app
 

That's basically what I'd want, but not as buttons. I have probably around 500 different words between 3 different languages. Have to scroll through a list or a table and click it seems like a big hassle. Is there a way to add words to the "auto correct" feature of the phone? Because essentially that's what it is. It auto corrects kent for Kent, and mos for months.

Re: autotext app
 

zkyevolved, for fast typing, your solution is far preferable. (My Personal Menu/xte solution is really just for form filling; and admittedly it is cumbersome.) Heck with wanting autotext for the N900:

I want autotext for Diablo! For the N800 and N810! I hope it at least gets into Mer.

In the old Macintosh OS (Mac OS 7; probably through OS 9), there was a program you could install called "Thunder 7," which enabled auto-correction across all the programs. I used to use it like you use the Blackberry auto-correct, but less extensively. (I had a full keyboard, of course; so I used it just for long words, like "rel" for "relationship" and, for a specific paper, "anth" for "anthropomorphic.")

So for the old Mac, there was Thunder 7. Googling for a program that applies customizable auto-correct uniformly across all programs on current OSes, I've come up with PhraseExpress, FastFox typing Expander and JitBit AutoText, all of which are commercial programs. There doesn't even appear to be a comprehensive AutoText app for the iPhone.

Interestingly, I found that there are a number of requests for an AutoText Add-On for FireFox, but none seem to have been created. If the N900's browser could take Firefox add-ons (will it be able to?), that would probably solve most needs ... but there isn't even such an add-on.

The AutoText feature really does appear to be something of a killer app for the Blackberry.

Something you may not be aware of is that in Maemo 4/Diablo (and in Maemo 5?), there isn't really auto-correction. Instead (at least with the stylus keyboard), what happens is that, when you type two or more letters, you are offered a selection of several words below the keyboard which you can select with your stylus. So, for example, as soon as I type "fr" I'm offered "from" "free" "friend" and "friends" and I can select one of them. I see no reason that this helpful feature couldn't co-exist with the sort of autocorrection you are asking for.

Re: autotext app
 

Great :D I don't have an account with the community, so if one of you would like to pitch this in the sandbox, I'd greatly appreciate it. If they decide to go with it and need help or more ideas or how it works, point them in my direction. If someone needs help funding this, I would also be happy to do this, even though I know most of the people here just do it to do it! But as i said before, I don't have an account with the community, just with Talk. So... does anyone want to pitch this into the sandbox?

Re: autotext app
 

Just go to http://maemo.org and register for an account! ;)

Tim

Re: autotext app
 

Posted it :)

check it out and vote :D

http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/autotext/

Re: autotext app
 

Hi all,
This thread had been dead for a while,
and still there is no solution for the suggested feature of using keyboard short words for auto replace (like bb = byebye, signit = <your signiture> etc).
It would be really cool if there was one.

GeraldKo found this:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=26894

Which is a way to simulate keyboard input. That's half a solution.
Another half should be being able to log keyboard last strokes and replace them.

The given brainstorm died for some reason as well.

I would really appreciate it if anyone could give his his ideas of how to implement this.

I don't know much about deep maemo kernel, but maybe if it is easier to implement on the virtual keyboard, it would be great.
Another option is to use the shortcuts on the top menu for some, but currently they connect only installed apps.

Thanks,

NBD

Re: autotext app
 

Hi all,

I made a little research of my own, and found that we don't need the tool previously mentioned.

All that is needed to do is to alter the hildon-input-method a bit.
This is where the IM is linked to the keyboards.
Recompile the .deb package, and overwrite the hildon-input-method file.

Does anyone know what is the best way to compile the hilon package of "hildon-input-method" :
http://repository.maemo.org/pool/mae...-input-method/

And is anyone familiar with this file and interface to tell me where should I hook the code that gets the pressed IM key?

Thanks,

NBD

Re: autotext app
 

How about this?

http://code.google.com/p/autokey/

It's written in python, do you think this would work? It would be awesome...

Re: autotext app
 

tpaixao,

Thanks for the info,
I will check it out!
:)